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Battle of Shandong
The Battle of Shandong was a major engagement of the Northern Expedition that took place in the Chinese provinces of Shandong and Jiangsu. It was fought primarily between the forces of the National Revolutionary Army of the Kuomintang and the Anguojun of the Beiying Government warlords. Overview The Battle of Shandong was an important part of the Northern Expedition. It can be generally be divided into two phases, with Zhang Zongchang’s defection as the dividing point. The first phase of the Battle of Shandong is known as the Campaign of Western Shandong. The Battle of Shandong in common terms refers to the Campaign of Western Shandong specifically. During this phase, the two parties engaged in the battle were the National Revolutionary Army (the Northern Expedition Army) and the Anguojun. On the National Revolutionary Army’s side, the Wuhan National Government was working alongside its allies in the Guominjun, whereas the Nanjing National Government was fighting alone. Although they were facing the same enemy, the conflicts between the two governments remained present. On the Anguojun’s side, Sun Chuanfang, who had previously declared his allegiance to the Anguojun, assumed the role of the commanding officer of the Fengtian Army, while Zhang Zongchang personally commanded the Zhili-Shandong Joint Army. The second phase of the Battle of Shandong is known as the Nanjing-Shandong War (excluding the four Campaigns of Xuzhou). Due to the intervention of Japan, the three parties of Wuhan, Japan, as well as Shandong agreed to a peace agreement, resulting in Zhang Zongchang’s defection to the Kuomintang, bringing peace in Shandong. Zongchang then established the Shandong Special Administrative Region which he aligned with the Wuhan National Government. The Nanjing National Government was reluctant to acknowledge this agreement, and continued their offensive campaign against Zhang Zongchang from the Xuzhou-Haizhou line, which achieved only minor progress. Under the authorization of the Wuhan National Government, Zhang Zongchang launched a counterattack and conquered Xuzhou in 1930. He continued his offensive after capturing the city, exploiting the weakness of the Nanjing National Government to capture Haizhou so as to extend his sphere of influence, which was widely criticized. Under public pressure, Zongchang was forced to sign a truce in November 1930. Theoretically, the war of the Nanjing and Wuhan governments against the Anguojun coexisted with the conflicts between the two competing governments in the second phase of the Battle of Shandong. However, in reality, the Nanjing National Government had found no chance to fight against the Fengtian Army. Additionally, the Nanjing and Wuhan governments had never broken out into total war with each other over the Nanjing-Shandong War. Therefore, the Nanjing Government had lost the chance to further exploit the success of the Northern Expedition, opening the possibility for Chiang Kai-shek to return to the the Nanjing government. Campaign of Western Shandong Feng Yuxiang initiated the Campaign of Taihang Mountain-Yellow River on 1 March 1928, for which the Northern Expedition Army formed the East Army with Huang Qixiang as chief commanding officer. Under the formation of the East Army were 4 armies, 12 divisions, and 1 cavalry brigade, including the 20th Army of He Long, the newly-formed 4th Army of Huang Qixiang, the 16th Army of Fan Shisheng, and the 30th Army of Wei Yisan. The total amount of soldiers were about 85,000. On March 1st, the East Army deployed between Shangqiu and Lankao, aiming between Heze and Jining. Their goal was to capture the southern riverbank of the Yellow River, covering for the right wing of the Middle Army. The East Army was further divided into the Left Column Corp as well as the Right Column Corp. He Long was qualified as the field commanding officer of the Left Column Corp, with the 20th Army, and the Newly-formed 4th Division of the Newly-formed 4th Army of Xue Yue as subordinates. The Right Column Corp was composed of the 30th Army of Wei Yisan (excluding the cavalry brigade). The 16th Army of Fan Shisheng was appointed as reserve staying behind at Shangqiu. Huang Qixiang then set up the command post with the army headquarters of the newly-formed 4th Army, directing the new 2nd Division and the cavalry brigade of the 30th Army as a preparation force following He Long. Timeline